Custom Rules (Self‑Service Portal): Show the right questions for the right products
Custom Rules help you tailor your Self‑Service Portal so customers see only the questions and steps that are relevant to the product they’re contacting you about. This makes flows shorter, clearer, and more accurate—especially if different products require different return instructions, troubleshooting steps, or outcomes.
What Custom Rules do
Custom Rules let you:
Show different portal pages/questions depending on the selected product.
Apply rules based on product identifiers and attributes (for example EAN/Barcode, brand, or category).
Guide customers through different follow‑up paths when you use Conditional Custom Rules (rules that branch based on earlier answers).
Where to set up Custom Rules
Go to:
Settings → Self‑Service Portals → Datasource → Custom Rules
From here you can:
Create new Custom Rules
Enable/disable rules
(Optional) Turn on conditional behavior for a rule
How matching works (which rule applies?)
When a customer starts a self‑service flow and selects a product, Claimlane checks your Custom Rules to find relevant matches for that product.
A rule can match using one or more of the following (depending on your setup):
EAN/Barcode
Brand
Product category (e.g., category levels)
If multiple rules match, the portal will apply the relevant rule logic according to your configuration (for example via priority/order, depending on how your portal is set up).
Conditional Custom Rules (branching flows)
Conditional Custom Rules let you create a rule that changes the next step depending on what the customer answers.
Example:
If the customer answers “No original packaging”, show a page with special instructions and stop/redirect the flow.
If the customer answers “Has original packaging”, continue with the standard steps.
How to enable conditional behavior
In the Custom Rule configuration, enable:
“Is conditional custom rule”
This turns the rule into a branching step where different follow‑up pages/questions can be shown based on the customer’s answers.
Custom Rule Routing (send outcomes to the right team)
In addition to shaping the portal flow, Custom Rules can also be used for routing—so the resulting ticket can be automatically moved and assigned.
Go to:
Settings → Self‑Service Portals → Datasource → Custom Rules → Routing Rules
With routing, you can:
Set a target status for tickets created from a matching Custom Rule
Automatically assign the ticket to a specific team member (optional)
This is useful when certain product categories or brands should always be handled by a specialist team.
How Custom Rules interact with other portal settings
Custom Rules are designed to work alongside your broader flow setup (for example “request type”/flow configuration).
In practice, this means:
Your overall flow setup determines the baseline portal experience.
Custom Rules add product‑specific behavior on top (e.g., product‑specific pages/questions).
If you’re using both baseline flow rules and Custom Rules, it’s normal for them to work together—Custom Rules are typically used to add targeted, product‑driven steps rather than replacing the entire flow.
Best practices
Start simple: begin with a few high-impact rules (top brands/categories or high-volume products).
Use Conditional Custom Rules only where it clearly reduces confusion or prevents incorrect submissions.
Keep rules maintainable: if the setup becomes complex, document the intent of each rule (what it matches and why).
Test with real products: always verify the customer experience by selecting products that should match (and should not match).
Troubleshooting
A Custom Rule doesn’t show up
Confirm the rule is enabled
Verify the product data (EAN/brand/category) matches what your rule expects
If your portal uses multiple product data sources, confirm the rule matches the product data actually used in the flow (main vs alternative product data)
The setup feels hard to maintain
This can happen when you use many rules and/or multiple conditional branches. In those cases, it often helps to consolidate rules or standardize how you name and structure them.